Inside Edmonton: Sophie Gray ‘Way of Gray’

When you walk into Sophie Gray’s home, it’s cheery, welcoming and zen – exactly what you would expect for a “lovestyle” guru, who practices what she preaches: self-love and acceptance.

Sophie’s company Way of Gray is becoming a household brand internationally. With more than 400-thousand followers on social media, she is empowering women around the world that they are “good enough”. Sophie started Way of Gray a couple years ago after setting out on her own journey to to find happiness. Now at 22, she’s finding that. With a growing business, a supportive family and boyfriend, and now a brand new home to decorate (with two dogs we might add), ‘lazy’ would not be a word we would use to describe this inspiring entrepreneur.

Originally from St. Albert, Sophie and her boyfriend Riley just moved into their brand-new southside Edmonton home in January. Now with the help of HomeSense, she’s busy decorating it!
“Traditional, like those homes you see in the movies – like This is 40,” is how she described her dream home; this one’s pretty close. The 27-hundred square foot two-storey home has a charming craftsman style with beautiful wood moulding details. It has that authentic look that you would find in a more mature neighbourhood.

The first thing we both noticed when we walked into her home was the hardwood floor. A combination of wide and thin planks make this flooring unique, and something you don’t see too often! The floors are Sophie’s favourite part of her house, and why shouldn’t they be?! Against the cool light-grey walls, the warm walnut wood tone creates a soft and welcoming first impression.

Throughout the house you’ll find crystals displayed. As Sophie toured us around she explained what each one meant. “They’re very important to me. Have you heard of crystal gridding? So you can have something done to your house, we haven’t done it to this house but I had done it to my previous house, so you have crystals dug into the ground on the four corners of your house, and they’re specifically designed for what you want to bring in and what the energy of the house needs, and I believe in that stuff.”

From historic pieces with meaning, to brand new pieces chosen based on look, here’s a look inside Sophie Gray’s home:

The Den

When you walk into her home, immediately to your right are beautiful glass French doors that create an elegant passage way into the den. When we all entered the room, her dog Rio instantly perched himself up on the stylish office chair behind her desk as though he owned the place. “He’s the CEO of Way of Gray,” Sophie joked.

The room isn’t huge but it’s the perfect size for a home office. Her custom-made desk sits in the middle and is the main focal point of the room – that is until you turn around. Built in bookshelves flanking the French doors are the perfect way to frame the beautiful detailing of the glass doors. They offer a huge amount of storage space – exactly what every business owner needs! Not to mention, they are the perfect way to showcase her fun collection of decorative items.

“The book cases and these doors were a must have… They did such a great job!”

On her desk you’ll find two crystals, “That one is for dogs, it’s supposed to distract them… and this one is for Wi-Fi, it’s supposed to help transmit the negative effects of Wi-Fi”
There’s one more on her book case, but Sophie says that one is just decorative.

The small crystal on the marble coasters is specifically for dogs. The round one in the foreground is a Wi-Fi crystal.

The “decorative” crystal.

The Great Room

Sophie’s home is open concept, which means the kitchen flows into the living room, which flows into the dining room. Her great room is f.a.b. There is no detail left unfinished. The wow factor in this room is the soaring ceilings that bring your eye right up to the gorgeous detailed coffered ceilings… we are obsessed with this detail in her home! All her furniture in the great room is tufted adding a dynamic and cozy aspect to the overall space.

“I love tufted everything!

“I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with this ottoman, but I just am, it’s fake leather, but I just love the leather look,” she explained. “This chair,” she said pointing to the light turquoise accent chair in the corner, “I waited months to find this colour.”
The hints of turquoise and different textures of fabrics in the room create a calm and serene feel when you walk into the space.

The whiskey barrel that sits in the corner adds refined grit into the polished space. It actually used to live in the garage in Sophie and Riley’s last home… but that’s not where the story begins! Riley told us how the barrel used to be his Grandpa’s in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
“He had a woodshop in his basement and he just had it sitting there full of scrap wood. It had been there my entire life and then my mom just took it from him,” he said laughing.
“Everyone asks ‘did you get that at HomeSense?!’ definitely not!” Sophie added. “I didn’t think it would work because it’s dark and I like light, but I think it’s perfect.” We couldn’t agree more.

The Kitchen & Pantry

When we walked into the kitchen freshly baked cookies were sitting on the stovetop (seriously, what can’t this girl do?!), but the cookies weren’t the first thing we noticed – it was this stunning fresh space.

Isn’t it everyone’s dream right now to have a white kitchen? Sophie hit the mark on this one big time. This kitchen is beautiful, bright, and airy! Any cook’s dream kitchen. The tone-on-tone whites are layered so that the textures and finishes are the elements adding interest – not the colour. The kitchen has a bit of a modern farmhouse feel with the deep farmhouse sink, rustic white barstools and the white subway tile with contrasting dark grout. The colour of the cabinets on the island is a soft grey that she is absolutely in love with.

“If we build another house I will bring this grey throughout.”

Her walk-through pantry connects her boot room and kitchen, and oh em gee it is amazing. We have never seen a pantry so organized!
“Is it like this all the time?” we asked. “Yes! Thank you for noticing!” Sophie giggled back.
There is a mason jar for every seed, every oat and every nut, and a crate to tie up all the loose ends. When we asked her what the craziest kind of junk food she keeps in her house was, she pulled a bag of chips out of a crate, “But they’re all natural! We have a vegan ice cream bar too but it’s actually sooo good, it’s a chocolate dipped one with date sauce in it,” she explained. “We honestly eat so many treats that are all natural we don’t really [crave anything]!”
Hats off to you Sophie, if eating healthy means staying organized, count us in!

The Dining Room

Islands are such a huge part our everyday life now – we prepare food on them, we host parties around them and often times we eat all our meals on them. Not Sophie, she prefers to eat the the table!

“We don’t ever eat at the bar… I love eating at the table!”

“Riley gets to sit facing at the kitchen but I also love to sit there because I love looking at the kitchen too.”
Sophie is hosting Easter at her house this year and says she’s excited because the dining room is her favourite room in the whole house!
“I love this table more than anything… It’s custom because the space is so big you need a bigger table or else it would just look empty,” she explained. “These chairs are my pride and joy, I looked and searched. I love the legs – I love the light legs, that was an absolute must. I didn’t want black legs, I wanted legs with character.”
The Edison bulb chandelier hanging above the table has a slightly industrial feel, and the wainscoting in the room ties the whole look together.
Easter in this room just sounds like it will be perfect. We’ll be sure to bring the cranberry sauce to dinner… don’t worry Sophie, we’ve got that covered 😉

Sophie’s DIY project – she put potpourri into this cage, and the smell radiated throughout the house!

The Master Retreat

We are calling this section the “master retreat” because that is truly what it is… a retreat, not just a room. This whole wing of the house is the perfect place to relax. Cozy and welcoming when you walk through the double doors; you can thank the plush bedding and elegantly tufted headboard for that. Sophie’s favourite element of the bedroom – the antique mirrored door that she scored from the Strathcona Antique Mall. It is the perfect backdrop for the seating vignette that she has created in the corner of her bedroom. No better words to describe this area but rustic elegance.

The bedroom is open to the ensuite which leads you to the walk-in closet and laundry room. “[This space] took up half the house! Everything we did in this half of the house was custom,” explained Riley.
“We probably won’t have kids here, so this is our house!” Sophie adds.

Their ensuite is very spa-like. The white-on-white colouring of the bathroom gives the space a tranquil and serene feeling. One element that Sophie says they absolutely cannot live without is their steam shower. She explained that this did not come with the house, it was an add-on, but was well worth it. “I’ll steam for 20 minutes then shower. My self-care routine is I need to have at least one long steam a week.” The bathtub, however… well that’s a different story.

“This has never been turned on once, I hate baths!”

Everything in Sophie’s house has been thought through. Even her natural laundry detergent is neatly poured into a cute little tin labelled “laundry” and placed on the top of the washing machine at the perfect angle.

The two spare bedrooms and her bonus room are still a work in progress. You’ve got to give her credit though, decorating the majority of her house in only 3 short moths while running a growing business, now that is what we call productive!

Sophie is already planning what she’s going to change out of her home to keep it current,
“I don’t want to be moving out of here in 10 years, but knowing me I’ll want to change things… we don’t have the basement developed, so that’s a whole other area of possibility!”

As we were wrapping up our tour she commented, “you know as girls whenever we get compliments we’re always like ‘ohh noo’ or ‘I don’t like this’, but when I get a complement about the house I’m like ‘yaaa I know!’.”

You should absolutely be proud of your house, girl… we think its gorgeous!! Keep up the great work!

To learn more about Sophie and join the Way of Gray Tribe, click here!

Until our next post, Jessica and Elysia ❤

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Thanks for visiting our blog! We're sisters from Edmonton who adore beautiful spaces! We love easy DIY projects and hope to inspire you to make your home that much more beautiful without breaking the bank. We're all about home and party inspiration, so be sure to check back regularly to see what we're designing!

Thanks for visiting our blog! We're sisters from Edmonton who adore beautiful spaces! We love easy DIY projects and hope to inspire you to make your home that much more beautiful without breaking the bank. We're all about home and party inspiration, so be sure to check back regularly to see what we're designing!

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